Umbrellas have been used for centuries as a portable means for protecting a user from the sun and rain. A major problem with existing umbrellas is the limited coverage area, especially when multiple users are contemplated. Most umbrellas are too small for more than one person. While there are bigger umbrellas that provide coverage for two or maybe even three people, these umbrellas are usually heavy and bulky. In a situation where groups of people need coverage, such as children, the bigger umbrellas often fail to provide sufficient coverage. It would be advantageous to provide a portable means for covering large groups of people.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,121,289 to Anderson and U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,080 to Ma both describe umbrellas that can be expanded to accommodate multiple people. In Ma, the umbrella is expanded by separating the middle stem and handle into two separate stems and handles, which stretches the umbrella canopy and reveals a central flap portion. With the central flap portion exposed, the expanded umbrella provides double the coverage area than when the umbrella is retracted. In this manner, Ma provides an umbrella that can be used for one person, or alternatively, the umbrella can be expanded to accommodate several people. While Ma does provide a useful improvement on umbrellas and addresses the problem of covering multiple people, Ma suffers from several drawbacks: (i) the umbrella must be specially manufactured with unique features that allow for expanding and retracting, (ii) the umbrella coverage area is still fairly limited and can only comfortably accommodate two or three people, (iii) the central flap portion is permanently attached to the umbrella, making the umbrella unnecessarily heavy when used in a retracted mode for a single-person, and (iv) the umbrella is not capable of joining with a second distinct umbrella.
International Patent Application Publication WO 02/26073 to Yu discloses joining two umbrellas with a connecting fabric so that two people can walk together in close proximity while under their respective umbrellas. Each umbrella is especially manufactured with an expandable/retractable rib. When the umbrellas are used separately, the rib is expanded to have a length equal to the non-extendable ribs on the umbrellas. The two umbrellas can be joined by retracting the expandable/retractable ribs and attaching the connecting fabric. In this manner, two umbrella users can be close to each other while using their umbrellas. Although Yu contemplates joining two umbrellas, Yu fails to provide a connecting canopy that can comfortably accommodate more than two people. Moreover, Yu requires that the umbrellas be specifically manufactured with unique features, such as the extendable/retractable rib and hook and look fastener strips.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,000 to DeMars and CN201299185Y also contemplate joining two umbrellas with a connecting flap. However, like Yu, the connecting flap/canopy in DeMars and CN201299185Y are not configured to comfortably accommodate more than two people. Moreover, the umbrellas taught therein are specifically designed to mate with the connecting flap, thus preventing the connecting flap from being used with existing umbrellas.
International Publication Number WO 2007/027979 to D'Firo describes a canopy extension that can be attached to the normal features of an existing umbrella, thereby obviating the need for a customer to purchase a new umbrella. While D'Firo provides a useful invention for extending the coverage of existing umbrellas, D'Firo fails to contemplate that a canopy can be used to join two existing umbrellas. Moreover, the canopy extension contemplated in D'Firo must conform to the shape of the outer perimeter of the umbrella, thus preventing the canopy from being used with different sized umbrellas having different shaped perimeters. In sum, the prior art fails to disclose a canopy for connecting multiple existing umbrellas, wherein the canopy is completely removeable from the umbrellas and is sized and dimensioned to provide a coverage area large enough to comfortably accommodate multiple people.
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What has yet to be appreciated is that a canopy system for connecting two umbrellas can include fasteners that are configured to attach the canopy to unmodified portions of existing umbrellas. Thus, there is still a need for a methods and systems that join two or more existing umbrellas in order to provide greater coverage area.